Bottle-stoppering machine.



. L 0 5., 2 .nm e rr d e t n nu t a DI BOTTLE sToPPERmG MACHINE.

(Application med oet'. 14, 1901,)

(No Mdel.)

mi: Nanms PsvERs co., vuuraurn., wAsmNnruN. n. c,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH BUTKUS AND JOHN A. BUTKUS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

BOTTLE-STOPPERIN'G MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 694,132, dated February 25, 1902.

Application ned october 14,1901. serian. 78,607. (remodel.)

To all wlwm it may con/cern.:

Be it known that we, JOSEPH BUTKUS and JOHN A.BUTKUs,citizens of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Stoppering Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for inserting and fastening Stoppers in bottles, and is an improvement particularly in the machine of this character for which we obtained United States Letters Patent No. 681,94), dated September 3, 1901.

The object of the invention is to provide a machine such as the patented one just referred to with ilnproved means for pressing a cup-shaped metallic stopper in the neck of a bottle and holding it to its seat in said neck while expanding devices force the ductile metallic side walls of the stopper-body into an annular groove or under an annular shoulder formed in the bottle-neck just below the upper edge of the same.

The bottle and stopper for which our iinproved machine is especiallyv designed is substantially the same as that shown and described in our United States Patent No. 671,263, dated April 2, 1901.

Referenceis to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view, with parts in side elevation, of the upper portion of a bottle-stoppering machine provided with the improved stopper-pressing device. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken at right angles to Fig. 1 and illustrating the devices for holding, pressing, and expanding the stopper in their lowered and contracted position.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of said parts, illustrating them in the relative positions they assume when the stopper has been expanded in the bottle-neck. Fig. 4 is a detail elevation of the stopper-pressing device with the shouldered sleeve for spreading apart the stopperholding fingers. Figs. 5 and 6 are detail section views of the stopper respectively before and after it has been expanded.

The aforesaid patented machine, for whose entire detail construction reference should be made to our Patent No. 681,94c9, comprises a hollow standard A, provided at its upper end -adjusted with a forwardly-projecting ledge a2, from which depend the stopper-expanding devices C. Mounted on the top of the standard A is a horizontal shaft e, intended to be rotated by any snit-able means, and a wheel 7c is tixedly held on said shaft and is provided with a cam g5, which when the shaft rotates strikes and rocks the lever G, whose forward arm is connected to a Wedge-pin c, thereby raising the latter when the lever is rocked. The said wedge-pin when it is raised by said lever has a wedge action on the inside of expandingfingers c', which expand the ductile metallic side walls of the stopper-body into an annular groove or under an annular shoulder formed in the neck of a bottle.

The stopper-expanding devices C comprise a vertical tube c2, of spring metal, secured rigidly in and depending from the ledge a2 of the standardl A, as shown in Fig. 1, and surrounding the wedge-pin c. The said tube is provided with a plurality of vertical slits c3, extending to the lower end thereof, whereby to form a series of spring expanding-fingers c. Surrounding the stopper-expanding tube c2 is a stopper-pressing tube b, which is the principal device ofthe present invention. This stopper-pressing tube at one end is exteriorly screw-threaded, as shown in the drawing at b5, and is screwed into a screw-threaded opening b' in the standard-ledge a2, whereby said stopper-pressing tube may be vertically independently of the expandingtube c2. A lock-nut b2 holds said pressingtube at different vertical adjustments. The stopper-pressing tube b is made of spring metal and is provided with a plurality of longitudinal slits b3, extending to the end opposite that which is threaded, whereby said slitted end forms pressing-fingers b4, that can expand and'contract slightly, and said slitted tube extends downwardly to within a short distance of the lower ends of the stopper-expanding lingers c', as vindicated in the drawings.

Mounted on the stopper-pressing tube b is a stopper-releasing sleeve t, which is held by screw-threads din engagement with said tube b at different vertical adjustments, and the lower edge d of said stopper-releasing sleeve is beveled, whereby to form a shoulder for engagement with shoulders l, formed on the IOO inner sides of the spring-lingers Z3 of the stopper-holding tube Z2, which is mounted to slide up and down on the releasing-sleeve Z.

The lower ends of the spring stopper-holding fingers Z3 are beveled on their inner sides, as at f,whereby they will spread apart and automatically spring back when a stopper is pushed up within the circle of said fingers, and the latter are also provided above the bevels f with shoulders Z5 for the upper edge of the stopper to rest on when it is inserted within the circle of the fingers. An opening Z6, corresponding in contour to the cross-sectional shape of the stopper, is formed at one side and at the lower end of the stopperholder, through which the stoppers may pass from the discharge-chute dl of stopper-feeding devices D, so that the, Stoppers may be fed automatically to the expanding devices, and a downwardly-spring-pressed casing L is rigidly secured to and surrounds the stopperholder, so as to move with the same, and is provided with a side opening Z11 to admit the Stoppers from the feeding devices. The casing L is intended to receive the mouth of a bottle, as indicated in Fig. 3, so as to guide it into position to receive the stopper.

After a stopper has been passed, either by hand or by the automatic feeding devices, into the stopper-holding tube, with the rim h of the stopper resting on the shoulders Z5, a bottle that is to be stoppered is pushed upwardly into the lower end of the casing L and raises said casing and the stopper holder. This movement causes the shoulders Z4 of the stopper-holding fingers to ride upon the annular shoulder d of the stopper-releasing sleeve Z just after the expanding-fingers enter the stopper, thereby spreading the stopper-holdl ing fingers Z3 apart and allowing the stopper to drop into the mouth of the bottle, which is just beneath and almost in contact with the stopper at that time. The bottle continues to rise until the lower ends of the pressingfingers come into contact with the top rim h of the stopper, and said pressing-lingers by resisting the upward movement force the stopper to its seat in the bottle-mouth, which compresses and wedges the sealing-collar h2 between the inclined interior wallarl of the bottle-mouth and the vertical side wall vof the stopper and at the same time slightly mashes in the ductile metallic side walls by reason of the contracting of the pressing-fingers as they slide downwardly and inwardly on the inclined wall of the bottle-mouth. Immediately thereafter the wedge-pin c commences to rise and spread apart the expanding-fingers, so that thelatter will expand and stretch the metal of the stopper-bodyinto the groove in the bottle-mouth, and thereby fasten the stopper in the same. The pressing-fingers b4, although they are unyielding longitudinally, can yield laterally to a slight extent, so that they will be pressed together as their ends slide on the inclined wall of the bottle-mouth, and thereby they readily press the stopper the latter, thereby compensating for Stoppers of slightlydifferent height and preventing the bottle-mouth from mashing the stopperholding fingers and the stopper while it is held therein.

Referring to Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings, it will be seen that after the stopper has been expanded in the bottle-mouth the sidewalls of the bottle-stopper are mashed in slightly from their primary vertical condition. This facilitates the withdrawal ofthe stopper from the bottle-mouth by affording an inclined surface for an opener to engage with, as indicated in Fig. 6.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a bottle-stoppering machine, the combination of stopper-expanding devices; a stopper-pressing device surrounding said expanding devices; a vertically-reciprocable stopperholding device surrounding said stopperpressing device and adapted to hold a stopper below the latter and the expanding devices; and means for releasing the stopper from said stopper-holding device.

2. In a bottle-stoppering machine, stopperexpanding devices; and a vertically-adjustable stopper-pressing device surrounding said expanding devices, as set forth.

'3. A device for fasteninga cup-shaped ductile metal stopper in a bottle-mouth, provided with stopper-expanding fingers; and a laterally-yielding stopper-pressing device adapted to press the stopper in the bottle-'mouth while it is being expanded.

4. -A bottle-stoppering device comprising a tube provided with a series of expanding-tingers; means for spreading said fingers apart; and a tube, b, surrounding said first-named tube and `provided with a series of fingers adapted to press the stopper into a bottlemouth, as set forth.

5. In a bottle-stoppering machine, a tube provided with a series of expanding-ngers; means for spreading said fingers apart; and a stopper-pressing device surrounding said tube Aand vertically adjustable with respect to the same, as and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a bottle-stoppering machine, the combination with the standard and its projecting ledge, of a tube secured to and depending from said ledge and provided with a series of expanding-lingers, means for spreading said lingers apart; and a stopper-pressing tube held vertically adjustable in said ledge and surrounding said first-named tube.

7. In a bottle-stopperin g machine, the com- TOO TIO

bination of a stopper-expanding device provided with a series of spring-fingers; means for spreading said ngers apart; a stopperpressiug tnbersurrounding said expanding; fingers; a stopper-releasing sleeve surrounding said pressing-tube and provided with an annular shoulder; and a vertically-reciprocable stopper-holding tube provided With fingers which are formed with shoulders, adapted to engage said annular shoulder whereby said fingers may be spread apart and release the stopper, as set forth.

S. In a bottle-stoppering machine, the comshoulder whereby said ngers may be spread apart and release the stopper, as set forth.

9. In a bottle-stoppering machine, the combination of a stopper-expanding'device provided with a series of spring Aexpanding-fingers; means for spreading said fingersl apart; a vertically-reciprocable stopper-holdin g tube provided With ingers formed on their inner sides With shoulders, Z4; anda vertically-ad-- justable stopper-releasing sleeve interposed between said expanding-fingers and stopperholding fingers and providedwith a shoulder adapted for engagement by the said shoulders, Z", of the stopper-holding fingers, as set forth.

In testimony whereoi we affix ourvsignatur'es'in the presence ef two witnesses.

JOSEPH BUTKUS. JOHN A. BUTKUS.

Witnesses:

FnEDEnIcK S. STITT, CHARLES L. VIETsoH. 

